Holden: jobs sacrificed on the alter of the free market

The government's seeming contempt for local industry will be devastating for development, prosperity and jobs.

12 December 2013Dave Oliver

The bloodline of any country is its workforce and Australia's has just taken a serious hit; a catastrophic blow that will affect hundreds of thousands of people. And the most striking aspect of what must be considered a very dark day for the Australian economy and its workers is that the government all but marched Holden off our shores. That is the clear message that will become a legacy for the Coalition: it is overseeing the end of the car manufacturing industry and has done nothing to save it.

Instead of fighting for jobs and industry, the government used a series of snappily dismissive retorts, thereby politicising the issue and causing General Motors to not even bother awaiting the Productivity Commission's report. It was obvious to everyone that the government had no appetite or plans for a car manufacturing future in Australia.

The ramifications of Holden's exit are extensive. We know that Toyota is under ?unprecedented pressure? to survive as the sole vehicle maker in Australia. Expectations are that it too will announce a final curtain call. Components and other reliant industries will topple in the wake of a collapsing car manufacturing industry, with estimates of up to 250,000 total job losses.

Along with the jobs and billions of dollars leaving our shore, will be significant expertise and innovation. Australia will well and truly have moved into importer territory, reliant on other nations for our goods.

That's why our government's actions are so illogical, especially when compared with global trends. Other nations are fighting hard and investing with deep pockets to keep local industries and encourage exporting and innovation because they can see the urgency and value.

Just four months ago, before the election, Tony Abbott was often pictured wearing hard hats and high-vis vests, standing alongside some of the workers who are now wondering what their future holds. It was a strategy to convince voters that the Coalition was on the side of workers and their jobs. It boasted about its commitment to workers and the economy in the form of 2 million new jobs to be created. But just months into its term we have experienced catastrophic losses with no indication of how this will be remedied.

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In light of the Coalition's commitment to sever jobs in the public service through the Commission of Audit, the dragging of feet with Qantas and now the destruction of car manufacturing in Australia, we have to ask: what are the government's plans for employment growth?

It is committed to shutting down the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, which encourages private sector investment in renewable energy. Around the world clean energy is one of the biggest areas of jobs growth and yet our government is once again hostile to development, prosperity and jobs.

It is a free marketeer willing to let the cards drop where they may despite the devastation and loss it will cause so many workers and our future ability as a nation to be innovative producers in a hungry global market.

Will this be the government of unemployment? Where will all the new jobs come from to fill the widening gap in the nation's job market, and what will our unemployment numbers look like once this is all reality?

A the end of the government's first term, which is when the job shedding will really begin, how many jobs will be lost, sacrificed on the alter of the free market?

Dave Oliver is the secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.

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